Monarch students trim the tree

Tuesday

Dec 11, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By CYNTHIA TOKOS

ROCHESTER — Imagine this: a student with disabilities gets the opportunity to get into a bucket lift with a guy from the public works department to decorate and hang ornaments on a very large Christmas tree. In downtown Rochester.

Thanks to the folks at Rochester Department of Public Works, students at the Monarch School of New England get to experience decorating a Christmas tree from the top down. A very unusual opportunity, in the best of times!

But the partnership that has come about with the Monarch School and the Rochester Department of Public Works is anything, if not unusual. For over 10 years, the two organizations have worked to develop this relationship, which has been great for them both.

The Monarch School of New England is a school for students with disabilities; based in Rochester and Gonic, it serves students from the ages of 5-21. Part of the school’s mission is to provide job training for students so that when they graduate, they might have some skills.

Thanks to the work of Lisa Clark, at the Rochester Department of Public Works, and Holly Moquin, at the Monarch School, students are given the chance to learn new skills at the department’s garage and within its main office. As a result, a great partnership has formed between the two groups.

Which brings us back to the Christmas tree in Rochester Square.

This year, a number of area kindergarten and elementary schools created ornaments for the tree. Students at the Monarch School laminated them and then on Nov. 30, got the chance to put some of them up.

These DPW guys are amazing! They brought everything together and then worked with Monarch students to hang the decorations. Ever watch a child with a disability get into a lift to reach the top branches of a Christmas tree that never before would have had the opportunity? Smiles that light up a tree.

This works because the partnership really celebrates our students – it shows what is possible when great people come together in support of what young people with disabilities can do.

Thank you, Rochester Department of Public Works. For giving us the chance to be part of this holiday tradition. The tree looks fabulous.